The Lok Sabha has extended the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining legislation related to ‘One Nation, One Election’ up to the first day of the last week of the Winter Session-2026 of Parliament.
Chairman of the Committee and BJP MP P. P. Chaudhary moved the motion on Wednesday to extend the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. He sought an extension of the deadline for submission of the report till the first day of the last week of the Winter Session. The resolution was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha.
The Bills seek to introduce simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.The 41-member panel is scrutinising the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to introduce simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.The committee has been holding nationwide consultations on the proposed implementation of simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and local bodies by 2029.
The Winter Session of Parliament usually begins in the last week of November and concludes before Christmas. In December 2024, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted the 39-member JPC and appointed BJP member P.P. Chaudhary, a former Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, as its chairman.
A JPC is an ad-hoc committee of the Parliament to carry out detailed scrutiny of a specific matter within a specific time.The panel has 27 members from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha.The government decided to increase the committee’s strength from 31 to 39 as more political parties expressed desire to be part of the exercise to examine the two draft legislations.
The JPC will now have until the first day of the last week of the Monsoon Session in 2026 to submit its report. The primary objective of these Bills is to facilitate simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state Legislative Assemblies. Given the significant constitutional and logistical implications, the extension allows for a more thorough examination and consultation process.
In September 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the recommendations of a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The Kovind panel had submitted the report in March 2024 ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha elections. Simultaneous polls were held in the country between 1951 and 1967. The concept of simultaneous elections has featured in many reports and studies since 1983, essentially implying a return to the previous practice of conducting polls concurrently.
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